USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County : from its first settlement to the present time, first under Virginia as Yohogania, Ohio, or Augusta County until 1781, and subsequently under Pennsylvania > Part 24
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In connection with the subject of the erection of the buildings and purchase of the lots and other incidental expenses, I might add that on January 19, 1859, John Grayson, Esq., treasurer, reported the institution free from debt, there being a balance in his hands of $590. Since this time the stockholders have been receiving a dividend upon their shares of stock, and a contingent fund has been established.
PRINCIPALS OF THE SEMINARY.
1. MRS. FRANCES BIDDLE.
On April 9, 1836, Rev. Dr. D. Elliott, Prof. Richard H. Lee, John Grayson, David Eckert, and John Koontz, trustees of the Seminary, published an address, stating that some time during the present month a female seminary for the education of young ladies, under the direction of Mrs. Frances Biddle, an experienced teacher, highly recommended by competent persons as a lady well qualified for the superintendence of a female institute. She will be aided by a well educated female assistant. The course of education will be extensive, embracing the various branches taught in the best fe- male seminaries. Mrs. Biddle opened the seminary 21st of April, 1836, assisted by Miss Mary Clark, and during her term of office had also as assistants, Miss Henrietta M. Post (afterwards Mrs. U. W. Wise), and Miss Sarah Chapman (afterwards Mrs. Collin M. Reed).
On the 2d day of January, 1840, Rev. Dr. McConaughy, Dr. R. R. Reed, and John Grayson were instructed to confer with Mrs. Biddle on the present and future prospects of the Seminary, who reported on the 24th, that the Principal intended to resign her office at the close of the present session in March, which she accordingly did, and her resignation was accepted. On the September previous
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of 1839, three years having elapsed since the organization of the Seminary, the first class of young ladies graduated, consisting of six in number.
2. MISS SARAH R. FOSTER (MRS. SARAH R. F. HANNA).
After the trustees had received notice of the resignation of Mrs. Biddle, Rev. Dr. McConaughy, Dr. F. J. Lemoyne, and John Mar- shall were appointed to obtain information of a suitable person for Principal of the Seminary. This committee, on the 14th of March, 1840, reported that they had procured the desired information, and would recommend Miss Sarah R. Foster, of Cadiz, Ohio, as pre-emi- nently possessing all the qualifications which would insure thorough education and perpetuate the institution. These recommendations being entirely satisfactory, Miss Foster was unanimously elected on the terms embraced in the existing contract with Mrs. Biddle. Dr. F. J. Lemoyne, Jacob Slagle, and John Marshall were appointed to execute the contract and publish the election and acceptance of a Principal, the studies and terms of tuition.
Miss Henrietta M. Post and Miss Laura Simmons were appointed as assistants, with the consent of the Principal. During the period Miss Foster presided over the Seminary and to the present time, as Mrs. Hanna, highly educated and accomplished assistant teachers have aided her in the discharge of her arduous duties.
On the 27th day of Sept., 1848, Miss Sarah R. Foster was united in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Hanna, pastor of Seceder Congre- gation, and on the 11th of March following he was elected by the trustees Superintendent of the Seminary, which office he held until his death, which occurred February 9, 1864. Mrs. Hanna, however, has always filled and exercised the office of Principal with marked ability and pre-eminent success, which is owing to her unwavering energy, kindness, and efficiency, joined with her judicious selection of assistants.
In connection with this subject we shall add the whole number who have graduated yearly since the first class graduated in September, 1839, which numbered six, the remainder having graduated under Mrs. Hanna, numbering in all five hundred and ten graduates, whose parents reside in fifteen States of the Union, thereby demonstrating that the fame of Washington Female Seminary is not confined to State bounds.
OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
Rev. Dr. David McConaughy was the first President, and served until his death. His successor was the Rev. Dr. James I. Brown- son, who was elected August 30, 1858.
The Treasurers were elected in the following years: 1st. John Harter, March 14, 1836. 2d. Alexander Sweeney, July 30, 1836. 3d. John Grayson, October 26, 1837. 4th. James Brice, March 31,
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1838. 5th. John Grayson re-elected May 12, 1838. And 6th. Thomas Mckean, January 8, 1867.
The following gentlemen have filled the office of Secretary by election, viz: T. M. T. McKennan, at the organization. 2d. Samuel Cunningham, October 26, 1837. 3d. John L. Gow, May 12, 1838. 4th. Dr. F. J. Lemoyne, December 7, 1841. 5th. Collin M. Reed, January 14, 1842. 6th. V. Harding, January 8, 1867.
The present Board of Trustees consists of Rev. Dr. James I. Brownson, President; Thomas Mckean, Treasurer ; V. Harding, Secretary ; and John Grayson, Jacob Slagle, Collin M. Reed, John H. Ewing, Dr. M. H. Clarke, and Dr. Thomas McKennan.
In connection with the name of Hon. John Grayson, a member of the Board of Trustees, and who served as treasurer for thirty years, the Board at its meeting on January 16, 1867, presented him with an elegant family Bible. I might add also that John Grayson and Jacob Slagle, Esquires, are the only two trustees who have served thirty years each as a trustee, and their devotion to the inte- rests of the Seminary, with their fellow laborers, the Principal and her assistant teachers, continues unabated.
We cannot better close our remarks upon the origin, progress, and success of the Washington Female Seminary, both as regards the in- telligence of its teachers and the acquirements of the young ladies, mentally and morally, than by quoting an extract from the address of Rev. James I. Brownson, D. D., at the Quarter Centennial Cele- bration held on the 27th of June, 1866, who, in speaking of Mrs. Hanna, the efficient and beloved Principal of the Institute, said :-
"But especially Mrs. Hanna is here, almost as you last saw her ; with the same clear voice, firm step, commanding presence, kindly heart, and wise and firm yet tender administration, which, in your school days, brought you at the same time under the power of fear and love ; and, as you can see for yourselves, she is after all not much older. All the period of your absence she has borne you in memory and heart, and now she waits to tell you all about your alma mater, its fluctuations of prosperity and trial, its struggles and triumphs, and to hear your full history from your own month,"
UNION SCHOOL BUILDING.
This building is placed on a lot two hundred and forty feet square, on the east end of Beau Street, and north of the college. The plan was submitted by John Chislett, Esq., of Pittsburg. It is seventy- four by eighty-four feet, three stories high, the first and second four- teen feet each, and the third fifteen feet, the elevation of the first floor being three feet.
The first floor has four rooms, with a hall. These rooms contain closets for books, clothes-rooms, broad double stairways, and the necessary apparatus for heating and ventilation, The second floor
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is divided in like manner, while the third floor has a hall of forty by seventy feet, with two rooms.
The hall is used for public examination, declamation, &c. The building cost about $16,000, and the furniture $2500.
Since the erection of this building the following gentlemen have filled the office of Principal, viz : Alexander M. Gow, Rev. David P. Lowary, Alexander Wishart, Rev. L. P. Streator, D. F. Patterson, Rev. W. J. Wilson.
The borough of Washington contains twelve schools; number of months taught are ten. The schools employ one male and eight female teachers, male teachers receiving $81.50, the females $33 per month. The colored children are taught by a male teacher in another building. There are 496 male scholars, and 506 females, amounting to 1002 scholars enrolled, although about 831 are the average number in attendance. The cost of tuition per month is 58 cents; amount levied for school purposes, $4740; for building purposes, $1600; total amount, $6685. The State appropriation was $330.33; the debt remaining on school is $7087.90.
WASHINGTON GAS WORKS.
The first meeting for the establishment of gas works in the borough of Washington was held on the 26th of August, 1856. The citizens engaged in the enterprise ; procured a charter, which designated as its managers Collin M. Reed, Jos. Henderson, Simon Cort, Jacob Slagle, Charles W. Hays, Freeman Brady, Jr., J. L. Judson, Jas. W. Koontz, and Alexander Seaman. This Board of Managers pro- cured the sale of stock, and by the terms of the charter, a new Board was elected January 18, 1857, consisting of Samuel Hazlett, C. M. Reed, Dr. F. J. Lemoyne, William Smith, Jacob Miller, Alexander Wilson, and Joseph Henderson. After its organization Messrs. Le- moyne, Hazlett, and Miller were appointed to purchase a suitable lot of ground, erect the necessary buildings, and contract with Mr. Stephenson for their erection.
The company has a capital stock of twenty thousand seven hun- dred and seventy-five dollars, divided into eight hundred and thirty- one shares of twenty-five dollars each.
The estimated value of the gas works is thirty thousand dollars. The officers are C. M. Reed, President; John C. Hastings, Secretary and Treasurer.
WASHINGTON CEMETERY.
A desire among the people of Washington and its vicinity to have an appropriate place for their honored dead led to the organi- zation of the Washington Cemetery Company. An application was made to the court, and on the 3d day of March, 1853, a charter was granted to the following corporators, viz : Samuel Cunningham,
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James Watson, +George Lonkert, John D. Chambers, Hon. Alex. W. Acheson, James Brown, Joseph Henderson, + R. F. Cooper, James Ewing, +John L. Gow, John H. Ewing, Dr. John W. Wishart, Hon. Wm. McKennan, David S. Wilson, O. B. McFadden, Alex. Murdoch, William Hopkins, S. B. Hays, John Hall, Franklin Nichol, and Dr. M. H. Clark.
The charter obtained, named the following persons as the Board of Managers : Rev. Thos. Hanna, D. D., John L. Gow, Hon. Alex. W. Acheson, William Hopkins, James Watson, Jas. Brice, and D. S. Wilson, who were authorized to purchase land, fill vacancies, and per- form such other acts as would promote the interest of the cemetery.
The legislature passed an act that all the lots should be forever exempt from taxation and free from seizure, levy, and sale, and also provided for its general protection. The company owns fifty acres of land, and have sold lots amounting to twenty-two thousand dol- lars, which has been appropriated to the erection of a superintend- ent's house, fencing and improving the grounds, as originally laid out by Mr. Chislett. So devoted have the lot-holders been to bean- tifying and adorning the resting-place of those who were near and dear to them, that the estimated value of the improvements is two hundred . thousand dollars. While the larger portion of the lot-holders reside in the borough, yet the people of the county feel interested in this cemetery, and here deposit their friends in an appropriate resting- place, which we may well call the great city of the illustrious and honored dead.
The managers of the company have generously appropriated grounds for the burial of the soldiers who died in defence of the Constitution, and in these grounds the soldiers' monument is to be erected, which will add another beautiful structure to the many which already can be seen, calling to remembrance the virtues of those who have passed into the spirit-land, and whose names are engraved not only upon marble, but upon the tablet of the memory of human hearts.
WASHINGTON COAL COMPANY.
This company is situate in the western limits of the borough, the owners of which are Messrs. Parkin, Marshall & Co., who on August 24, 1864, commenced sinking a shaft for bituminous coal, with which our county abounds. They were successful on the 12th day of Au- gust, 1865, being one year engaged in the enterprise before their wishes were both realized and gratified. The perpendicular depth of the shaft is three hundred and fifty feet, but at an angle of forty- five degrees, which is the descent to the coal, by a stationary engine and cars, it is five hundred feet. The company employ thirty hands, digging daily one thousand bushels, and the improvements, with the coal right, are estimated as worth thirty thousand dollars.
Those to whose names a cross is prefixed, have since died, and are buried in the cemetery, except R. F. Cooper, who died on the battle-field.
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As it will be interesting to my geological readers to know the various strata through which the workmen passed, I shall give them as detailed to me by Mr. Parkin, the senior partner. Passing down below the soil and clay four feet, was blue clay, then five fect of gravel, then eighteen inches of black slate, like roofing slate, then a four feet bed of limestone, next fifteen feet of a blue clay or schale like fire-proof brick is made of, then an eight inch vein of coal, next six feet of gray schale like fire-proof clay, then five feet of freestone, then one hundred and seyenty feet of gray limestone between beds varying from six inches to three feet. In this, however, is twenty feet of white limestone, about the centre of the foregoing depth of one hundred and seventy feet. In this white limestone, which is one hundred and fifty feet from the surface, are salt springs. Immedi- ately below the gray limestone is twelve feet of black slate, such as is found at Cook's Mill, two miles north of Washington, then eight feet of gray limestone of a soft nature, then five feet of gray flinty limestone (the hardest they had met with), fifty feet of blue schale, and mixed with iron, until they reached sandstone, which was fifteen feet deep, mixed with fossils of various kinds, then three feet of slate, under which was a vein of pure bituminous coal of five feet six inches.
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
By reference to the history of Smith township we learn that this township was a part thereof, but on the 11th day of March, 1786, after application had been made to and certificate granted by the court, the Supreme Executive Council confirmed the action of the court. When formed into a township its boundaries were the Ohio River on the north and east, Smith township on the south, and Vir- ginia on the west. It will be remembered that after a part of Beaver County was taken off Washington, a part of Hanover township was thereby struck off. Yet each county retained the original name of Hanover for one of its townships.
It is bounded by Beaver County on the north, Robinson and Smith on the east, Jefferson and Smith on the south, and West Virginia on the west.
The turnpike road from Pittsburg to Steubenville on the Ohio River runs westerly through the township, and upon it is Florence, called originally Briceland's Cross Roads. The Pittsburg and Steu- benville Railroad runs through its southern part. This township contains several valuable grist and saw-mills, also ten stores, fourteen schools, employing six male and eight female teachers, with 494 scholars (274 males and 220 females) ; the male teachers receive $37 50 per month, and the females $26 25; the tuition costing per month for each scholar $1 16. Amount levied for school purposes $2552 92; from State appropriation $182 91.
Its population in 1860 was 2090, of which 38 were colored. Its greatest length is 11, breadth 7 miles.
14
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In this township resided the celebrated Adam Poe, who lived in a cabin about two miles west of Florence, situate on a little knoll on the farm of the late John Fulton, deceased.
Its towns are Florence, Paris, Murdocksville.
On the 14th day of August, 1814, a town was laid out by James Briceland and Moses Proudfit, who named it Florence. It was originally named Briceland's Cross Roads, from the fact of the Pitts- burg and Steubenville pike crossing the Washington and Georgetown road at this point, where James Briceland kept an hotel. It is twenty-six miles from Pittsburg, twenty-four from Washington, and twelve from Steubenville.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The Cross-roads Presbyterian Church is located at Florence. It was organized originally at a place called King's Creek, in 1786, but the location was changed to its present site in 1798. The church has had as its pastors Rev. Elisha MeCurdy, who was installed in June, 1800 ; Rev. Daniel Dernelle, in 1836; Rev. Wm. Burton, in 1838; Rev. James W. McKennan, in November, 1839 ; Rev. Joel Stoneroad, in 1842 ; Rev. J. S. Wylie, in 1850 ; Rev. Oliphant M. Todd, November 9, 1852; Rev. J. P. Caldwell, in 1860; Rev. Andrew W. Boyd, in 1864; and Rev. . David M. Miller, in May, 1867, its present efficient and highly esteemed pastor, who informs me that the number of families connected therewith numbers eighty- nine, with a Sabbath schcol of one hundred and twenty children. This was one of the churches that shared in the great revival which took place at the beginning of the present century, which was accom- panied by what was known as the " falling exercises."
The United Presbyterians have a church on King's Creek, near Florence. The present pastor is Rev. James L. Purdy, with a membership of eighty.
Paris is in the western part of the township, and contains about thirty-five dwellings, a Presbyterian church under the care of the Rev. Fulton Magill, and a United Presbyterian church, which has had the ministerial labors of Rev. Mr. Galloway, Rev. Mr. Backus, Rev. J. Y. Calhoon, and Rev. James C. Campbell, with a membership of one hundred and twenty. It has also one extensive threshing- machine manufactory, cabinet-makers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, &c.
Murdocksville is in the northeast part of the township.
August 26, 1811, in Pittsburg, two officers had a dispute, and they resolved to settle their difficulties by fighting a duel. Arrange- ments were made that the affair should be settled in Virginia. One of the parties travelled as far as Briceland's Cross-roads (Florence) the first day, and in the morning rose by daylight and practised with his pistol. One of the shots struck the headstone of Capt. Baving- ton, and can be seen at this day. After breakfast he left for the designated spot. The same day his antagonist left Pittsburg, but
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when he came near to the place called the old North Star, formerly kept by Joseph Crawford as a tavern, he was thrown from the sulky and had his leg broken. The wounded officer was taken back on a litter to Pittsburg, by soldiers sent for that purpose. Thus ended this duel.
July 3, 1793. We give the substance of a lease between George McCormick and Solomon Hule and Sarah his wife ; the former convey- ing to the latter on lease, one hundred acres of land, on the waters of King (or Indian) Creek, in Hanover township. The rent required was one bushel of Indian corn yearly, and the taxes to be paid on four hundred acres, and at the expiration of three lives the land to revert to George McCormick and his heirs.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
On the 16th of July, 1787, the Supreme Executive Council, upon the proper certificate of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Washing- ton County, formed this township, adopting as its boundaries Am- well township on the north, Cumberland on the east, Greene on the south, and Donegal on the west.
With Cumberland, Morgan, Greene, and Rich Hill, this township constituted Greene County by an act passed February 9, 1796.
FINLEY TOWNSHIP
Was formed out of Donegal on the 6th of May, 1788. Its boun- daries were Donegal on the north, Franklin, Cumberland, and Greene on the east, Mason and Dixon's line on the south, and Virginia on the west.
It was subdivided into East and West Finley December 24, 1828, by a decree of the court. The history of each we shall give after referring to some other subjects.
About the year 1807 there existed in this township several religious sects, of which we shall speak, to show the influence which superstition has upon the human mind. The leader of this sect was a man by the name of Sergeant. He professed to have a revelation direct from heaven, through the ministry of an angel, in which was communicated to him the very convenient doctrine that there was no hell. He preached in that and the adjoining townships for about three years, and had many followers. Firmly believing in this doc- trine, and concluding that there was no punishment hereafter, he committed forgery and was imprisoned in Cumberland, Maryland. However, before he committed this crime his fame as a minister had preceded him to Wheeling, and thither he went and preached. His services were interrupted by a lawyer, and Sergeant instituted suit against him for disturbing the solemnity of the sanctuary and the religious services in which he and his followers were engaged. The trial came off; the lawyer was acquitted and the HALYCONITES were declared not to be a religious sect. It was immediately after this
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he was arrested and sent to Cumberland, Maryland, for trial. As soon as the lawyer heard of this, he composed the following poetry, which is still repeated from memory by some of the old inhabitants of Finley township. The lawyer styles himself St. David's son, and Sergeant, St. Bones. It reads as follows :-
1. Saint Bones, to show that all his ways Demand the most unbounded praise, Returned St. David's son to court, Of which St. Bones became the sport, With all the Halycon union.
2. Saint David's son did prove full well, St. Bones did preach there is no hell ; It was thus decided by the laws That his was not a Christian cause, With all the Halycon union.
3. Saint David's son to Bacchus bows, And in his temple pays his vows ; Being thus inspired he moves along, Amidst the enthusiastic throng Who compose the Halycon union.
4. Now adieu, St. Bones, whene'er you die, Directly to heaven you will fly, But father Abraham, with a club, Will beat you down to Belzebub, With all the Halycon union.
This lawyer, whose name we are not authorized to give, wrote another piece upon this man Sergeant-upon his confinement-which we also give as a relic of the olden times. The lawyer represented the devil as saying :-
1. Now I'll away to Cumberland To see a friend in iron bands ; To see a friend in awful dwell, Who always preached there was no hell.
2. He took his leave, away did go, He found his friend both mean and low, He found his friend in iron band, Which put the Devil to a stand.
3. Oh, now, dear son, what brought you here ? Oh, father, pray, don't be severe ; The truth to you I won't deny, They put me here for forgery.
4. Oh, now, dear father, if you can, Release me from these iron bands- Release me now-don't let me swing, And I'll to you new subjects bring.
5. Oh, yes, dear son, that I can do, And soon he burst the bands in two. For this here thing you shall not swing, This day I'll crown you HALYCON King.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
This was a death-blow to the Halyconites, but on their ruins arose a more wonderful sect. Among the followers of Sergeant was an old lady by the name of Rhoda Fordyce, who, in addition to the doctrine that there was no hell, taught that it were possible for persons to live entirely on a vegetable diet, such as parched corn, sassafras buds, &c. &c., for a certain number of days and then be bodily translated to heaven. This sect was called Rhodianites, after their founder.
A man by the name of Parker, it is said, in attempting to carry out this doctrine, was absolutely starved to death in the house of this woman Fordyce. She kept the body concealed in her house for three days and three nights, and as he did not make the ascension in his lifetime, it was not probable that he would after death. The neighbors, missing Parker, and knowing the influence she was exer- cising upon his mind, went to the house and were refused admit- tance. They broke the door open, found the body and buried it.
To the doctrine of passing bodily to heaven, she added another point, which was required of all her followers, viz : That of form- ing a chain. To perfect this chain required a man and woman to make the link. The way it was formed was on this wise : Each were sewed up in separate sacks, with their head out, arms tied close against the body, and feet tied together; they were then put to bed by the old lady. In the morning they were brought before the old woman as Inspector-General, and if they stated that they had slept inno- cently together, they became a link in the chain of the Rhodianite church. Tradition tells us that many husbands were separated from their wives to form a link in the Rhodianite church.
After this sect arose a new sect, called New Lights, who made converts from the ranks of both the Halyconites and the Rhodian- ites by scores. They believed in immersion as the true mode of baptism, and that the Saviour was not equal to God, the Father, and was not from everlasting. They also believed in washing each other's feet at their communion. They would strip off their feet, get a basin of water and a towel, and go amongst all the brethren and sisters and wash their feet. These New Lights increased rapidly for a few years on the borders of Washington and Greene County, Marshall County, Virginia, and the adjoining counties of Ohio. They held both camp and bush-meetings.
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